Box-stuff planing and sizing machine.



G. A. SMITH.

BOX STUFF PLANING AND SIZING MACHINE.

APPLICATION rILnn APR. a. 1906.

918,604,. Patented Apr. 20, 1909.

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G. A. SMITH.

BOX STUFF PLANING AND SIZING MACHINE.

nrmonmx FILED APR. e. 1906.

918,604. Patented Apr. 20, 1909.

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G A SMITH BOX STUFF PLANING AND SIZING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 6. 1906.

Patented Apr. 20, 1909.

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Tron/ms UNITED STATES PATENT oEEroE.

GEORGE ANDREW SMITH, OF SOUTH HILL, VIRGINIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE SMITH AUTOMATIC BOX MACHINERY COMPANY, INCORPORATED, OF RICHMOND, VIRGINIA.

BOX-STUFF PLANING AND SIZING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented April 20, 1909.

Application filed April 6, 1906. Serial No. 310,326.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE ANDREW SMITH, residing at South Hill, in the county of Mecklenburg and State of Virginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Box-Stuff Planing and Sizing Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My present invention, in its general nature, embodies certain improvements in that type of board edge trimming and face planing mechanism disclosed in Patent N 0. 830,378 dated Sept. 14, 1906, and issued to Andrew C. Smith and myself, and primarily seeks to provide a simplified construction of matcher head setting devices whereby the same can be economically manufactured and readily applied to the ordinary type of planing ma 0 ines having opposing matcher or edge trimmer heads and whereby the action of the shifting of the movable matcher heads is rendered positive and one of accurate adjustment.

My present improvements are also especially designed for being readily attached to sawing machines, or planing machines, whereby to adapt the said machines for finishing up rough lumber of various predetermined widths, for example, 3 3 e, 4, 4i.- to 6 inches, more or less, and usually in lengths of 16 ft. whereby to finish the said board in one operation or run through the machine in condition ready to be sawed up into the desired lengths, as box stuff.

My means, when attached or combined with the ordinary types of planing or sawing machines hereinafter more definitely referred to, are designed to be automatically adjusted to trim the edges of the long boards accurately, such adjustment being accomplished by the varying widths of the boards entered in the machine, so that, should for example, 4 in. boards follow 3 in. boards into the machine, no stopping or special adjustment of the edge trimmer or matcher heads is required and the operation of planing or sawing the board and trimming its edges is effected on all the boards that come within the extreme different widths, say, from 3 to 6 in. which are finished up in shape for use as box stuff without the necessity of stopping the machine and manually adjusting the planing, sawing or edge trimming mechanisms.

In the machine described in the co-pending application before referred to, is disclosed a fixedly held matcher head and an opposing laterally movable matcher head and a guide located in advance of the matcher heads adapted to be engaged by the front end of the board to be planed and edged and which is moved laterally in ro portion to the width of the board and t 1e movement of which, through certain gear devices that connect the movable matcher head and the lateral movable guide, transmits the desired adjustment to the matcher heads,dctents actuated by the passing board being provided to fixedly hold the movable matcher head to the required adjustment during the passing of the board to be planed and edge trimmed.

My present invention comprehends generally a rotary cam device adapted to be engaged by the front end of the board and to swing on its axis to different degrees proportionatelywith the different Widths of the boards that are entered into the machines and whose differential rotary movements are transmitted positively and accurately to the movable matcher head, and the said matcher head is primarily, effectively held to its adjusted position while the board engages the cam device and is positively locked to its aforesaid set position by lock mechanisms under control of and automatically actuated by the passing board.

In its more specific nature, my invention consists in the peculiar combination and detailed arrangement of parts hereinafter described, specifically pointed out in the claims and illustrated in the accompanying draw ings, in which Figure 1., is a plan view of so much of a planing machine as is necessary to illustrate the application of my invention, Fig. 2, is a longitudinal section thereof on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1, Fig. 3, is a transverse section of the same on the line 33 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4, is a diagram plan view illustrating the movable matcher head setting devices in their normal position for holding the movable matcher head to its innermost thrust for engaging the board of a minimum width. Fig. 5, is a similar view showing the said parts adjusted to set the matcher head for engaging a board of a maximum width. Fig. 6, is a perspective view of the cam device and the connection that joins it with the movable matcher head guide. Fig. 7, illustrates my present invention as applied to the ordinary type of sawing machine, Fig. 8, is a diagram illustrating the manner in which the lock or detent devices may be arranged when the attachments are used on a sawing machine. Fig; 9, is a detail cross section on the line 99 of Fig. 2.

In the accompanying drawings, I have illustrated only so much of a planing machine and a sawing machine necessary to illustrate the cooperative connection of my improvements therewith and their manner of operation, and referring now more particularly to Figs. 1, 2 and 3, A designates the main frame of a planing machine which engages the bed or table portion a, BB the feeder-in rollers that engage or convey the boards between the matcher heads presently described, and B B the take-off rollers that feed the planed and er ge trimmed boards out over the delivery end cf the machine.

CC designate the planing cylinders, one of which C is disposed in front of the matcher or cutter heads and is arranged to engage the upper face of the board while the other cylin der C is located beyond the cutter heads and is arranged to engage the under side of the board.

In my present invention one of the matcher heads, designated D is fixedly held in its bearings and also forms as it were, a

guide, since it coacts with the guide rail a of the machine against which one edge of the board is held as it passes through the machine, and opposing the said matcher head D, (which head is rotatably mounted and provided with the usual type of peripheral cutter blades (1) is the movable or adjustable cutter head D which is constructed exactly like the cutter head D and is rotatably mounted in a pair of slide blocks d d having side flanges 2 2 that engage the guide grooves 2 2* in the brackets or cross members 2 2 of the main frame as clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 3, by reference to which it will also be seen that each cutter head has a pendent shaft that carries a belt pulley to which motion is imparted by belts from the main shaft of the machine in any approved manner.

As before stated, one of the matcher heads is fixedly held with respect to the main guide a and the opposing cutter or matcher head is mounted to move laterally with respect to the said guide (t and the other matcher head, whereby the said mbvable matcher head is adapted to be set relatively to its opposing cutter head according to the width of the board to be trimmed.

In my present invention, I have provided a simple mechanism for effecting the desired differential adjustments of the movable cutter heads which is best illustrated in Figs. 2, 3, 4 and 5 which show that ust in advance of the front feed rolls is mounted a combined guide and matcher head setting member 0 which is in the nature of an elliptical cam normally held with dotted line a Fig. 1) at right angles to the longitudinal line of the table or bed of the its longitudinal axis (see machine whereby to bring its extreme outer or point end 0 directly opposite the gage rail a so as to provide for a minimum space or passage between the cam O and guide rail a which in the arrangement of my mechanism is shown, assumably, as 3 inches. At the end, diametrically opposite the point 0 the member 0 is made fast to a rock shaft P which is pendently journaled in a hub a on the table and which is provided at the lower end with a crank arm p, to which is connected one end of a link rod or bar p which transmits the required motion to the movable cutter head carriage or sliding blocks in a manner presently explained. In the arrangement of the parts shown in the drawings the cam Ois illustrated as being of such length and so fulcrumed with respect to the fixed guide a? that when moved to its normal position shown in Fig. 4, which move ment is effected by suitably arranged torsion spring 2 the cam will be set for allowing passage between it and the guide a of the minimum width of board to be dressed, for example 3 in. wide, it being understood that the cam is shifted to either of the predetermined points between its minimum and maximum throws by the different widths of the boards as they are entered into the machine, which operation is best explained as follows: Then the cam O is at the normal position the movable cutter or matcher head is likewise at its normal position whereby to properly engage and trim that edge of the 3 in. wide board that passes between the two cutter or matcher heads. Now, assuming the next board entered into the machine be 3-}; in. wide, in pushing the board toward the passage between the cam O and the guide a the said passage being but 3 in. wide, the outer front edge of the board will then engage the serrated edge'of the cam O and cause it to turn in the direction indicated by the arrow 10 until the space between the cam and the guide a is sufficiently wide for the passage of the 3;- in. wide board, it being understood that in case the next boards'entered are, say 3%, i 4, t}, 5 or 6 inches wide, the cam wi ll be swung in the direction indicated proportionately with the width of the boards that engage it. The differential movement of the cam effects a like movement of the rock shaft P which movements are then transmitted to the movable cutter head carria e or sliding blocks whereby the said movable cutter head is set in harmony with the adjustment of the cam O. To obtain the desired movements of the cutter head in an accurate manner, that is, say for trimming boards, the varying widths of which are as little as inch to one inch, I form the sliding blocks or carriages in which the shaft of the movable cutter head is mounted, with rack teeth 11" that are splaced i in. apart, which teeth project latera y from the said sliding blocks as clearly shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 6 which also clearly illustrate fiat cog 'ears 22 mounted on the shaft F journa ied in a suitable bearing on the main frame whose teeth are also spaced inch apart and which are held in mesh with the rack teeth 11 on the sliding blocks. The shaft F has a crank arm f to which the link bar p connects, the rela tion of the said bar, the crank on the shafts F andjP, and the swing movements of the camO being such, that when a board 3% in.

wide engages the cam O, the said cam in its movement through the connections that join it with the movable cutter head, rotates the gears 22 the distance of one tooth and corresponding y shifts the slidin blocks d d the distance of one tooth an sets the movable cutter head back i in. from its normal position, it being understood that a board 4 in. wide engaging the cam 0 will swing thecam back sufficiently to move the gears 2-2 four teeth, the racks on the sliding blocks four teeth, and the movable cutter head back the distance of one inch from its normal osition.

So far as descri ed, it will be observed that so soon as the cam O is moved back to any of its differential adjustments a like movement is positively transmitted to the movable cutter head, which, by reason of the means used to shift the said cutter head, is accurately maintained to such position by the gears on the shaft F being held to their partially turned position, since the cam O is held to its set position by the passing board that engages it. To provide, however, for posi tively locking the movable cutter head to its set positions after the board passes from the cam O and also beyond the cutter head and the cam 0 from returning from the set position until after the tail end of the board has passed into engagement with the take-off eed rolls, I employ a locking lever S mounted under the table or bed of the machine which is fulcrumed on a endent stud a, has one end formed with tfie head 8 provided with a concaved rack face 8, the teeth of which are properly spaced to engage with the teeth of the cog gear that engages the upper slide carriage for the movable cutter, and has the other end 5' pivotally connected to a shifting rod T, the opposite ends of which are connected to the front and rear detents tt, one of which detents is disposed in advance of the other and preferably near the delivery side of the feed rolls, while the other is located at a point beyond the movable cutter and preferably close to the planing cylinder C as shown. Each of the detents consists of a short arm fulcrumed in the slot way of the machine bed, whose upper end carries a friction roller and whose lower end is fulcrumed on the shifting rod T, the several parts being so arranged and combined that as the front end of the board asses from the in-feed rolls it engages the forward detent and swings it back to the position shown in Fig. 5, which movement, through the shifting rod T, is transmitted to the other detent and through the said rod T to the locking lever S which is then adjusted to the position shown in Fig. 5 to effect a permanent locking of the said parts during the passage of the board through the machine. To aid in returning the lever S, the rod T and the detents tt to their normal position, a spring 10 is provided that engages the lever S, as shown.

By reason of the construction and arrangement of the parts shown and described, no special means is required to check the insertion of a second board while the first board is yet passing through the machine, since in my present invention the cam 0 cannot return to the normal position until after the board passes beyond the outer end of the detents t-t, and further, since the said cam O as also the movable cutter head, are positively held locked to their shifted position until the board has been completely planed and trimmed. Since the operator knows that the operation of finishing the board cannot be completed so long as the cam 0 remains at other than its normal position, such position on the cam 0 serves as an indicator to prevent the entrance of new board until after the last board entered has been fully dressed.

In Fig. 7 I have illustrated my present invention as particularly adapted for use with a sawing machine. As shown in the drawings, the sawing machine in its make-up is of the ordinary type and my means are mounted on the supplemental frame H which, when building my machine, as a whole may be a part of the sawing machine frame. The eneral arrangement of my improvements w en used with the ordinary sawing machine is substantially the same as when applied to a planing machine, the main difference being that for a sawin g machine they are arranged in a vertical plane instead of horizontally as on the planing machine. When combined with a sawing machine, my invention, so far as I know, effects the new result of dressing the board on its sides and edges and sawing the same during the operation of passing the board through the machine. This will be readily apparent by referring to Fig. 7 which shows the front feeder in rolls BB arranged vertically in adjustably o osing brackets and the planing cylinders likewise mounted and disposed opposite each other. The cutter heads are vertically mounted and the upper one is movably supported in a carriage or sliding block to which motion is imparted from the cam. O in the manner similar to that shown in Figs. 1 to 5.

The purpose of sawing the boards in the manner indicated in Fig. 7, is that after a board of double thickness has been dressed on all four sides it may be savv'ed dovvn the middle and each half used with one rough side, as it is not always necessary that in a box both sides of the board should be fully dressed.

JV hen combined with a sawing machine, the locking detent devices are operated by lower edge of the board, which engages the detents designated 8 on Fig. 8 and Which coacts with the pivoted lever s which actuates the locking face below that engages the gear Which transmits motion to the movable cutter read carriage or sliding block.

The ordinary feed rolls of the sawing ma chine take the place of the delivery or feed rolls shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 and the said feed rolls, designated B convey the planed and edge trimmed portion of the boards being operated upon by the sawing mechanism, the special construction of which, b ing wellknoWn, need not be further referred to.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. ln machine for dressing boards, the combination With guide for one edge of the board to be operated on, a fixedly held matcher head in line with said guide and a movement of the board to be dressed and adapted to be diflerentially shifted by boards of different Widths in proportion to their Widths, automatic means for moving the shiftable cutter outward controlled by the different movements of the cam, and an-' other means for holding the shiftable cutter to its shifted positions controlled by the board as it passes between the matcher heads, as set forth.

2. In a machine of the character stated, in combination With a fixedly held guide, a stationary rotary cutter or matcher head for engaging one edge of the board, of a laterally adjustable matcher head for engaging the other edge of the board, a sliding carriage in which the adjustable head is mounted, said carriage having a rack face, a rotary shaft having a gear engaging the said rack face, said shaft having a crank arm, the rotary shaft 1? at the entrance end of the machine, the cam device on the upper end thereof, the said shaft P having a crank, the link rod that connects the two aforesaid cranks and automatic means for turning the shaft P to its normal position.

GEORGE ANDREW SMITH.

Witnesses J. H. WALL, E. MoAnAMs. 

